The students are naturally curious to find out, to solve the mystery of what the tech-teacher-guy does after a day of work: Do I scour the internet at night until late, browsing YouTube or - well, not Facebook, because that's so last year... perhaps I'm a gamer? I must be on Steam. That's reasonable... but not Minecraft. That would be awkward, if Mr. Mueller was on Minecraft. Maybe he programs? Codes all day at home for fun? My favorite stories are Mr. Mueller as the part time hacker.

Most of the Middle Grade students know by now that I unplug when I get home. Much to their dismay, I'm ready to reach for a book or paper or fresh air. I've no interest in staring at another lightbulb for another few hours; my eyes crave something else. It's true, if you really think about it - unless you retreat to the most basic of Kindles, you are staring into lighted pixels for hours at a time. It can't be good for my eyes, right?

There are certainly physical problems that could come from too much screen time. But what about psychological problems? Social or emotional? More research has surfaced this year that too much screen time isn't just bad for your eyes.

Essentially, a group of grade 6 students were split over the Summer; half had no access to electronic devices - and half were given usual access to screens. Researchers found that the students without access "scored significantly higher when it came to reading facial emotions or other nonverbal cues than the students who continued to have access to their media devices."

I've taught students to have a healthy skepticism for any research, to always question findings and look at the fine-print. We don't know other variables about the students, and we do not know the test size (I later learned that it was around 100). The lead researcher also suggested a follow-up study to measure social skills of students after being re-introduced to "normal" amounts of screen time. Regardless....

It seems somewhat obvious to me. I don't need a study to tell me that with less screen time, students will have many more opportunities to learn social cues and read emotions more effectively. But do we put that rule into practice? How do you manage your child's screen time at home? And if you choose to, what are the guidelines?

As stated in the first article: "The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that kids' entertainment screen time be limited "to less than one or two hours per day." And for kids under 2: none at all. In the NPR blog post, we find another guideline: It is important that screen time not replace face-to-face interactions.

To minimize this, I would think it imperative to first encourage more time with friends, family, and even out and about with our community in general. Concurrently, we should encourage less time on the technology "tools" that seem to replace social interaction. Ideally, I would work with my child on setting limitations on chats and encourage social time whether playing or studying. Is it easy in a world driven by the conveniences of iMessage and eMail? Absolutely not, but my child's emotional intelligence is much just as important to me.

And I plan on sharing this recent video (below) with my students at school, followed by a good long discussion. It's not healthy to expect we all completely unplug, when technology skills are so very important to innovate and share our ideas. But it's always a good time to draw a line:

Rest assured, our screen time at Stevenson is inherently productive, and limited to times where the learning can be amplified by using technology tools.

But what do you do at home? What do you hope to do? Do you have suggestions? Please, share them in the comments section below.

What did Steve Jobs do? You might be surprised. Find out - and glean some helpful guidelines from Silicon Valley CEOs and entrepreneur parents in this recent NY Times article.

I remember those massive desktop computers when I was in 5th Grade. That had to be around 1986. We had a computer lab of IBM Tandy desktop computers. Ron V. was the computer teacher. I was the quiet kid that knew a lot about computers already but didn't want to reveal it.

My brother and I would fight about using the Commodore 64 computer at home. It had a cartridge that would let me program in Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC).

I wrote programs that would make the screen flash like a strobe light. Or draw pixelated lines to create the look and feel of a wormhole. I remember imagining myself falling into the computer through that wormhole; I wanted so badly to understand it.

Is this your child? Are you seeing these tendencies at home - where you have a tinkerer at heart? A girl or boy that likes to take things apart or figure out how something ticks? Read on....

I also remember when our teacher Ron V. asked us to do some mental math in the lab. I happened to de-rail his lesson, but assume he was going to show us how the desktop could act as one big calculator. That is, after all, what the ENIAC was created for in the beginnings of the PC revolution (though a computer at the time filled an entire room). The quiet rebel in me decided to write the program that would solve the problem. I remember the answer was 81. He asked me over and over again how I came to the right answer. I froze, and the reasons for that could be a whole other article about the art of teaching, because I remember - like it was yesterday - how angry he was. But I also remember the feeling of figuring the program out on the fly, under the radar, without anyone noticing.

I also recall "hacking" a game called Wormy, and another called Oregon Trail. I had it do my bidding. Yes, I learned to win the game by deciphering it. But the reverse-engineering taught me even more about programming. I still, to this day - and thanks to my Mom for holding on to memories - have a small booklet on programming in BASIC, authored by yours truly. Almost like a scribbled-out "BASIC for Dummies" book, in a middle-schooler's point of view.

That was the Computer Science of the times. Clunky desktop computers that cost one or two thousand dollars. Floppy drives. Minimal space and really no Internet or Email. Not yet. I was lucky to embed myself into a sort of revolution, as it paved the way for the understanding of technology I have now.

Years ago, we let that revolution go. Computer Science went by the wayside as we let the industry experts tackle the jobs. Programming was no longer meant for the masses, became less accessible, and required years of college work. Programming was no longer taken seriously - it remains an elective in most High Schools and does not count for any credit. This has been true even in California, where most technology jobs exist.

Thankfully - and due to movements such as Maker, Code.org, STEM, Khan Academy and more - we are seeing a resurgence of coding skills. Programming. Logic. Critical thinking and the debugging that translates into many other fields, disciplines, and skills (plus, they're making it cool).

More importantly, we're finally recognizing that millions of computer science positions will be unfilled in the coming years, unless we introduce these skills as part of a standard curricula. Not just a computer club. Not an after school program or elective - but a sequenced part of middle grade and high-school curricula.

Watch this video from CODE.org, and you'll see some of the industry leaders and innovators, along with other celebrity heavy-hitters, that are joining forces to see that coding starts early and strong:

CODE.org allows for me to create student accounts from Grade 2 and up - where students can experience coding on their own. MIT's Scratch lets students as early as PK (with their Scratch Jr. app on the iPad) learn visual programming. Tynker is relatively new to the field, based off of Scratch, allowing students to learn logic at their own pace. We even have an opportunity now for Grade 8 students to try their hands at Java programming, thanks to Ms. Haddie Dowson and her sister, a Computer Science major at Stanford.

In Grade 7, students are starting a STEM project that will require them to wire a breadboard with resistors, diodes and a MOSFET - to an Arduino Uno - and program it to simulate a lighthouse beacon.

The Grade 4-8 Robotics Teams are learning to use a version of the robotics industry standard LabView, provided by LEGO and their Mindstorms robotics program - to solve a series of missions on a game board - and then compete against Silicon Valley area schools.

It's exciting to be part of this new revolution. It's exciting to see California and other states finally consider Computer Science as more than an elective. It's amazing to hear students from Grades 2-3 excited about technology time this year, because they know they will learn to program.

Is it important? Absolutely. I believe strongly that at least a foundation of basic programming logic is just as important as many other disciplines. At the very least, students learn critical thinking, debugging, trial and error, wonderful skills in logic, and systemic thinking - at the very least.

For details on the tools mentioned in this post - visit any of the following: http://code.org, http://tynker.com, http://scratch.mit.edu, http://www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms/. I've collected a series of "student opportunities" links - just click on the top menu of this website and look around. Makey Makey, Arduino, and other links are available there.

The tech tip below was one of the first I created when I started this blog. Because I've had a few parents thank me for it, I'm going to share it again. I hope you find it helpful!

Even adults have a tough time of it: As we explore the wonders of the internet and the so-many tools available online... email, online banking, managing dozens of accounts... it can be a real headache to have so many passwords. Right?

So what do we do? Well - typically, we first think of our pets. Surely - no one will think that Sparky or Frankie for all my bank passwords, right? (or your child's name, or 13579, or....)

It's ludicrous to imagine that we could create secure passwords - to include digits, characters, and letters - like any IT department will beg you to do. But - as I've got one foot in that world, I understand why. We're interested in keeping your information safe - and, keeping our network safe from your not-so-secure password.

Here's a tip that I share with students - that gives you passwords that are all secure, all different, and all simple to remember. Ready?

First, let's put parenths around every password (or you could use asterisks, brackets, etc). Next, let's start with the first threeletters of our last name. Then, the first three letters of the service I'm logging into, in all caps. Lastly, pick a year - or just a series of numbers that will never change. Got it? Sounds complicated, but...

If I log into yahoo! mail? My password is (mueYAH1971). Or, my password for Amazon is (mueAMA1971). See the pattern? This typically adheres to any website's security demands for accounts, yet I still have a pattern that I can remember. Is it perfect? No password really is. But it beats "Sparky" (sorry Sparky).

I'm browsing the 'net without headaches, and no longer attaching post-its to my monitor, defeating the purpose of passwords in the first place.

Hope this tech tip's a great start. Feel free to offer your own by emailing me at tmueller@stevensonschool.org.

Firstly, welcome parents to another great year at Stevenson School! It's been an exciting opening week for all of us. Know that your children are in such good hands; it was a real pleasure especially to see new students guided along by our faculty and their new peers and friends. We have a lot of new faces in our community this year, and while their eyes are big and wide this week, their smiles will be wide too, and hearts full, I'm sure of it.

Every week (with occasional exceptions) I try to post a technology tip for our school community to consider. It could be about a technology tool that could be helpful at home or school. It could be about digital citizenship for both kids and adults. Or, I sometimes indulge myself with my opinion about something new in the field of STEM. I hope you find a few of them interesting, even enough so that you might comment or stop by my office to talk.

This week I wanted to share a resource with you.

This last Summer I made a point of getting more acquainted with Common Sense Media (CSM). I have used CSM for the past two years to guide our digital citizenship curricula at the school (including topics such as staying safe online, online privacy, cyberbullying, plagiarism etc.) You can visit the site at www.commonsensemedia.org.

After a short course and application, I'm now proudly mentoring our community as a Certified Educator for CSM. We'll see a larger presence of digital citizenship tips and concepts throughout the curricula and campus, as we practice good behaviors during technology and life skills classes. We'll also see posters around campus to reinforce these concepts and behaviors.

You might do the same at home with these tip sheets from Common Sense Media. While I encourage families to make decisions together at home for computer use (i.e., creating a user agreement for at home much like the one we have here for campus), it's helpful to look through tip sheets like these with your students. Whether your child is in grade k or 5 or 8, it's never too early or late to talk about these topics at home.

For me, it's the new "look both ways before you cross the street." Our children are digital natives now, so we need to teach them the digital equivalents of holding hands, sticking together, and helping each other out.

Again, the tip sheets can be found at https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/educate-families/tip-sheets.